Hello dearest friends,
This one shall be fairly quick as I technically have to leave for work in 15 minutes but I wanted to post this as I may not get on until Saturday. Fridays have been my LONG days for the past six years working at my job but now with the additional hour plus drive each way it makes the day even longer and a little more exhausting.

Before I had moved a friend of mine had approached me about joining a group of his fellow filmmaker friends to create an actual feature film. I absolutely love just about everything involved with film making.... directing, production crew, sound, music, art department..etc.... And of course the idea of writing for a film is thrilling to me. Sure, I love writing novels and knowing that people out there are reading and I hope enjoying them. But writing a screenplay for a film is another way to combine several of my passions into one project.

My friend had been my band's videographer and live photographer and I was in a short film that he helped shoot. We had also gone to school together and for a few years we were co-workers until I left that job to go full-time at my current job rather than working 7 days per week between both jobs. He asked me to join the crew working on this.

The only info I got to start with was that a friend of his suggested a 'theme' for a film. It was basically the barest amount of information that could be considered an idea for a film. His friend had to drop out but left him with the idea and said that he should still have it made. Attempt to get actual production studio backing and such. So he approaches me with a very broad concept and the fact that it is supposed to be a comedy. I can do that!

One may not be able to tell from my posts on here but I tend to be quite humorous and fairly quick-witted. Those who know me rarely know what I will say in response to a given situation other than that it should be unexpected and most likely funny, at least to some degree. My sister spent years trying to force me to go with her to a stand up comedy open mic but sadly my constant work schedule never really permitted it. But I can still write comedy. Hell even my first novel which was initially horror/suspense (with drama eventually becoming a bigger part) and my second novel being primarily a drama with some action and more than a fair share of heartbreaking moments...I could not keep adding moments of levity. And if done just right it can be a cathartic moment even for readers. By providing them with a much-needed laugh at just the right time.

Initially we were supposed to be working as a group to come up with ideas for scenes that would then be compiled and fleshed out to become the screenplay. However most of the ideas came from me. We did have another person...an actor of all things to help with writing...throw in a couple of solid ideas that I definitely wanted to include.

I kept spinning more and more yarns until I realized that I had essentially conceptualized the entire story. I spoke with my friend and he gave me his blessing to write it. I told him that even if does eventually receive some kind of monetary budget that any payment coming to me should be a secondary concern. Or thirdondary? I would not take anything up front as I was not selling them the screenplay as may writers do. A production company will often buy screenplays and they can make re-writes and changes. I told him that for all of this work I mainly wanted the writing film credit and at least a share of the screenwriting credit (yes, often two different things) depending on if others help me write the actual shooting screenplay or if I end up doing that myself as well. But I asked only for nearly full control over the shooting script. If I am doing this solely (most likely) for credit then I want to be sure that I can fully approve of what my name is attached to. I am open-minded to changes and suggestions that may strengthen the story and therefore the film, but I don't want some clown to do a hackjob with my screenplay and have my name attached to it because that was agreed upon before I started writing.

In a day and a half I had gotten most of it done. Then I found out in a very rapid succession that I had the opportunity to have my own small home, working on everything we had to do to get this home, then packing everything we own while working full-time in less than two weeks and then the actual move. And with the aforementioned additional drive to/from work and everything else...which includes the somewhat mentioned vehicular problem that led to me, thankfully, getting another vehicle... I hadn't had the time not had I been in the right headspace to write.

I've felt badly because I was literally only 4 or 5 scenes from the end of the screenplay. Once I complete it we would write a treatment and he would use the treatment to work on trying to get the movie produced. If we had to it could be done independently but they'd all done that so many times and we would like to see if we can actually make a feature film.

Well last night was the first time that I'd been able to work on it and it was going SOOOO well but then I suddenly became very exhausted and then woke sitting in the same spot on the couch with my laptop on my lap (I write most of this from my PC but I was having issues with my PC when I started writing the screenplay so I used my laptop and it is far easier for me to write on the laptop from the couch where the seats recline than attempting to find room on my computer desk for the laptop to sit.) and I had to take the dog out and feed the cats (including mixing in antibiotics for male cat) and then quickly passed out in bed.

I did get a fair amount done today. It has taken longer than I had expected as the scenes are actually the longest scenes in the entire film so I was a little further from completion that I had thought. But it's shaping up super well and hopefully Saturday I can finish it before work. If not then Monday or Tuesday when I am off I can finish it off. Then I have to e-mail the script to my friend to continue the process and I will start writing/editing the shooting-ready version.

Oh crap...I need to leave for work in two minutes! Look at what you've done! Anyway..feels awesome to be in a better position to write again! Even though it is not my third novel yet...I am writing something that is important to me. And since the film requires the work of a lot of other people it is far more essential to me that I complete that before I begin a novel where I am the only responsible party. Except for editors that help me edit the novel before publishing...but that's a post for another time.

Drawing blanks a bit. Primarily because my mind is running too many things through it. I should start doing the dishes soon. I want to put the washed and dried laundry away. The bathroom door came off its hinges the other day and I CANNOT stand for that. I did do the grocery shopping a bit ago and stopped at the hardware place next to the grocery store and picked another set of hinges. I want to work on putting the door back on but I'd have to get up and plug in the battery for the cordless drill to make certain that it has enough power to complete the job.

These things require me to move away from the computer. And I want to get the done so that they are out of the way and then I can really set to work on what I REALLY. REALLY want to accomplish today...Starting my third novel!

So many things have been so rocky in the life recently that I just haven't had the time to write. I had to pack to move, move and attempt to unpack. Which is/was made all the more difficult by the fact that I now I have an hour fifteen minute (or longer) ride back and forth for work as opposed to the five to ten minute ride I used to have. But my home is much better here. My bills are cut nearly in half. And with the money I still make down there... really helps things. But it's not very likely that I would find anything up here making nearly as much. And overall I enjoy what I do to make the money. Which would also be much less likely here.

So while some of those things have kept me from writing up until now, I really want to push my self to finally get it started. Attempt to not worry so thoroughly about how I will find my next block of time to write. Just make the advancements that I can for now without concern for when my next monster writing session will be. It also really helps that my job allows me to put plenty of time writing the upcoming parts of a current novel-in-progress.

Okay...time to get a few thing done. I will just have to work on the playlist I need to play in Banshee to help establish and maintain the proper mood to write the story that will be my third novel when I sit back down again.

Wish me luck.

On a quick side note: I just stumbled upon how to play Fields of Gold by Sting/The Police. Quite pretty. Quite fun to play.